India initiated its Covid vaccination drive on Saturday and inoculated 1,91,181 healthcare workers across the country. In the evening, Additional Secretary (Health) Manohar Agnani said not a single post-vaccination hospitalisation was reported. But Delhi reported 51 “minor adverse events” and one “severe case” after vaccination at the time of going to press.
Serum Institute of India’s Covishield and Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin were deployed across the country on Saturday. Covaxin was deployed in 11 states — Assam, Bihar, Delhi, Haryana, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Odisha, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Telangana and Uttar Pradesh. The highest number of beneficiaries to get vaccinated were in Uttar Pradesh (21,291), followed by Andhra Pradesh (18,412) and Maharashtra (18,328).
After Prime Minister Narendra Modi kickstarted the vaccine rollout with an address to healthcare workers and vaccinators on Saturday, Manish Kumar, a sanitation worker, became India’s first Covid vaccine beneficiary at Delhi’s All India Institute of Medical Sciences’ vaccination centre. Later, AIIMS director Randeep Guleria and NITI Aayog Member (Health) Dr V K Paul, the two prominent faces in India’s fight against Covid-19, were administered Covaxin at the same centre. With this, the government sought to put to rest doubts that have been raised over the indigenously developed Covaxin.
The vaccination drive started just after 11 am and ended at 5.30 pm across 3,352 vaccination sites. During the day, several sites reported problems with CoWIN, the app that is the backbone of the drive.
Speaking to reporters at the end of Day 1, Agnani said, “There were two main problems that were reported — delay in uploading of beneficiary list at some session sites and healthcare workers who were not scheduled to be vaccinated were administered the vaccine. We solved the two issues and system performance and speed would be further optimised.”
Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan held a review meeting with state health ministers to figure out how to respond to the problems. Assam and Maharashtra were among the states that reported some beneficiaries complained of mild cases of adverse events following immunisation.
DELHI: Vaccines bring cheer to hospitals
Nursing assistants Aisha Mandal and Kusum Sinha at Rajiv Gandhi Super Speciality Hospital, Tahirpur, were elated to be the first to get their vaccine shots on Day 1 of the Covid inoculation drive.
“But I had to win a battle at home to make my parents understand that the vaccines are safe,” said Mandal, who had been on Covid duty since March. “If I doubt the vaccines, how will others trust them?” She wasn’t bothered about which vaccine she got. “It doesn’t matter. I trust my scientists.”
SII’s Covishield was administered at 75 Delhi government and private hospitals, while Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin was given at six vaccination sites in central government hospitals. Around 8,100 healthcare workers were scheduled to get their shots on Saturday. Doctors and health care workers seemed to be in an upbeat mood.
At the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), the first jab was administered to Manish Kumar, a sanitary assistant. He got Covaxin. AIIMS Director Randeeep Guleria, who also took the shot, said: “I have just taken Covaxin and feel absolutely fine. Vaccines are the only way to break the chain of transmission, bring down the death rates further and slowly go back to normal life.”
At Max Smart Super Speciality Hospital, Saket, there was a celebratory mood. Medical Superintendent Dr Seher Qureshi said the vaccination day was the first festival they had celebrated in the last one year.
Doctors on duty were quick to quell doubts about vaccine’s side effects. “A select group is spreading rumours. Still, we will be observing everyone for 30 minutes after the jabs,” said Dr Atul Peters, director, bariatrics department, Max. An Adverse Event Following Immunisation team was at hand to investigate any complication.
At AIIMS, Health Minister Harshvarshan said: “Both vaccines have been subject to adequate scientific scrutiny and received emergency authorisation after ensuring safety, effectiveness and immunogenicity. Hence, there is no need to fear.”
At Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital, even as Medical Superintendent Dr Rana AK Singh got a Covaxin jab, a group of resident doctors shot off a letter requesting that Covishield be given in place of Covaxin. “Covishield has completed all stages of the trial before its rollout,” the letter added.
RML doctors say no to Covaxin
Doctors at Delhi’s Ram Manohar Lohia (RML) Hospital refused Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin shots, as India started the world’s largest vaccination drive on Saturday.
The resident doctors demanded that they be administered Covishield vaccine and not Covaxin as the former has completed all three stages of trials. “We will prefer Covishield and won’t take Covaxin,” Nirmalya Mohapatra, senior resident and VP of the Resident Doctors’ Association, RML, told ET Magazine.
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